Different goal: Former Indian winger joins coronavirus relief work

The 31-year-old former India international and 14 other volunteers operate five helpline numbers to arrange the delivery of groceries and medicines.

Reuters

April 17, 2020 / 13:37 IST

A month after Jamshedpur FC ended their disappointing Indian Super League (ISL) season, winger C K Vineeth joined another team - working in a call centre providing relief to people in his district during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since India announced a lockdown last month to curb the coronavirus spread, Vineeth has been driving 25 kilometres every morning to reach a call centre in Kannur in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

"People need help, and the administration is doing so much. Why should I sit home and chill when I can also help?" Vineeth told Reuters from Kannur.

"It's not me only. There are plenty of young men and women working tirelessly to help others in these difficult times."

The footballer works 10 am to 5 pm daily at the centre.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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